Police are investigating whether a New York man was cooking a dog or a coyote on a grill outside a home.
Officers responded to a complaint of animal cruelty on Jan. 13 and found a man cooking a canine outside a home in Rome, New York, the Rome police department said.
The man cooperated with police, telling them the canine was a coyote, the police said. An animal control officer took the animal to Cornell University for testing to try to determine its species.
The man could be charged depending on the results of those tests, the police said.
Hunting or trapping coyotes is legal in New York state with a license, the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation said on its website.
Rome’s animal control researched reports of missing dogs in the past year and said none matched the size and weight of the animal. Rome is located about 45 miles east of Syracuse, New York.
